Week 1 & 2 in Macclesfield

Hello friends and family!! 

Wow did lots happen this week! My first week in Macclesfield has been just amazing! It is a very nice town and I'm excited to spend the rest of my mission here. So, it's probably not in California right now but as for England it has been really wet and a tad bit cold. But, the greenness makes up for the rain because it is beautiful. It has been an adjustment here physically because there really are no buses nor any public transportation. This is the first time I am biking in my entire mission and it has been a workout! It's great!

Sister Hales is amazing! She is so sweet and caring. She is an amazing missionary and so obedient. She really motivates me to try harder to follow every rule with exactness and to talk to everybody. I have good feeling about this transfer and I feel like some good things are going to happen. 

We also had quite a miracle!! So, Sister Hales and her companion found a lady named Sam before I came. Sister Hales said it was quite an experience where she felt like she needed to go by a returning member. Sam yelled at them to say that she was asleep and they gave her a pamphlet. We went by later to follow up if she has read it and a man answered. He was very friendly and said that they would be very interested to meet with us. We mentioned which church we were from and he said that he was so sure that he was a member of the church. It said it was a long tome ago but that he was going to church and was baptised in Birmingham. He said he loved the Church and had no idea that there was one so close by. He is excited to start coming to church again and to meet with us in the future.

This past week I just have been thinking about how many things I have seen and just how much the Lord has blessed me. I was reading in the Book of Mormon where it says that the Lord's arms are extended to all. It says that a couple times but it just made me think that I can be those arms. I look at the people on the side of the street and I realize that there is somebody out there who loves them and cares for them and it is my responsibility for them to know. Whether they accept or deny it. I am just so blessed to have this knowledge and I know that I can never deny it. I love you all!

Week 6 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!

This week was pretty great! Well, a really big highlight was that Sister Ryser learned how to make Torta Fritas and also churros! So, I have been pretty spoiled. But, an even bigger highlight was the friends that we met this week!

We met with one of our friends Pauline and she is the sweetest. She doesn't fail to cook us food whenever we go over. She has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. But, Sister Ryser and I really feel like she is making some very positive steps forward. She said that recently she has been really hungering for more knowledge. We read Mosiah 18 with her and she said she really wants to pray to know if baptism is the right step. She believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God as well! So, if you get the chance, please pray for her to receive that answer!

Sister Ryser had an amazing idea to start a Book of Morning reading evening. So, we are getting that up and running! We are starting from chapter 1 in the Book of Mormon and reading and discussing it with members and friends that want to learn more. Some members are pretty excited as well as our friends! We hope that it will be a good finding tool as well.

Also, we got a new branch President this week! He looks like he is going to be really good! It was announced during fast and testimony week and the testimonies afterwards were really amazing. It just really made me think how church callings are so divine. It gives me chills just thinking that the callings we have are something the Lord knows we need to do to help build his church. A mission is a lot more special when I think that I never chose any of the areas I have been to. They were never even a thought in my mind. But, each area I go to just proves to me that they are exactly what I need. I have lived and love each and every one of them. It is so true that the Lord really is in the details of our lives. I look back on mine and i realize that He was there every step of the way.

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

1. Torta Fritas

2. Churros

3. There is a place called Hanford on the way to Newcastle!!

Week 5 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!
How are you all doing? We had some MIRACLES this week!!! First and foremost.... So it all started 10 years ago... A woman named Irene met with missionaries and really believed and liked what they said and actually wanted to be baptised. But, before she did, she got nervous and didn't really understand how she was going to be baptised. She lost contact with missionaries and wasn t baptised. Around a month ago, elders were talking to people along the streets of Stafford and met Irene. She said she would love to meet with us and come to church again. They got her phone number and gace bit to us. We texted and called her a couple of times but there was no answer. Just this week, we called the number and HALLELUJAH!!! The phone answered. She said her phone wasn t acting properly but she would like us to come to her home the next day. So we did! She immediately brought up why she wasn't baptised and said she would love to come to church again. She said she definitely believed Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ and that the Book of Mormon was true. We addressed the reasons why she wasnt baptised and she accepted it immediately. She said the reason why she wants to come back so bad is that she really wants her family who has passed to be baptised and she knows our church is the way they can love with her forever❤ She is the SWEETEST woman and we are so excited to teach her. 

Sister Ryser and I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week! I gave mine on testimonies and Sister Ryser gave hers on charity. I talked about how a testiminy is so powerful because it is born of the spirit. A witness of the spirit is more meaningful than any evidence you can ever receive because it is so personal. The stake patriarch also spoke after the both of us and he talked some more on both of nour talks. He said that when you feel the spirit, it is so short. He talked of a time where he looked his wife before they were married and he felt that this woman was for him. He also was told that He needed to take care of her. He said that he physically felt the Spirit for maybe 10 seconds but he has remembered decades after. I think that is so true. The times we feel the spirit are so short. But,The effects last for a lifetime.

1.  Found a little "home" in England
2.  Always eating yummy food (btw, I'm NOT eating the flower pin on my jacket, lol!)
3-6.  pictures from last week's zone conference

Week 4 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!!

So, this week we had lots of exciting things happen!! First and foremost, last week I sent an email and I only realized later that some parts of it didn't make sense. The title of ijt was Chinese with a hint of regret and it was because we got Chinese takeaway which we later regretted because our stomachs started hurting super bad Worth it because it was still really good food! Also, one of the pictures was of my companion and I with masks on. So, her mother sent her these face masks and we didn't realize that they actually had the pictures of the princesses on the masks! They looked really scary when you put them on.

We had a really good week! We had an amazing lesson with a 10 year old boy named Nathan! He actually wants to be baptized and went to a baptismal service of someone in the ward! He is the cutest! We taught him about the priesthood and he could remember things and noticed things that was just amazing for his age! I am super excited to teach him again!

Then, we had a lesson with Gail! We brought a member and Gail got us all presents! She is the sweetest lady!

We taught this woman named Val and I felt like her lesson went amazingly well! She loves the bible and has an amazing testimony of Jesus Christ. She said she REALLY wants to come to church.

We also had something CRAZY happen!! So, Sister Ryser and I had just come to the flat for companionship study and were talking together when we heard a weird trickling sound. Then, Sister Ryser just looks in the kitchen and says,"Why is there water in the kitchen?" There is just this puddle in our kitchen so we started inspecting and found water leaking from the outlets and from the ceiling. We suddenly got worried that something happened in the flat above so we rushed upstairs and knocked on the door. Nobody answered but we could see reader around the door and on the ceiling surrounding the door so we thought,"that means it is ABOVE that flat." So we went the next floor up and knocked on that door and a man answered he said he had a really bad water problem. No serious damage was done and everything was fine but we found it quite funny

A little spiritual thought! So, I was on exchange this week in Stoke and we Gor to visit this family who had just moved into the ward. They were from So Salvador and didn't know much English. Luckily, my exchange companion at the time spoke Spanish since she was from Argentina. So, basically the entire lesson was in Spanish! Since I took Spanish in high school I was actually quite surprise with the words I could remember but when it came to the spiritual thought... I didn't know gospel words. But, I remember when the father of the family spoke and I could immediately feel in my heart he was bearing testimony. I didn't know what he was saying but I could feel the spirit witnessing to me that this father had a strong testiminy of the gospel. It truly showed to me that the Spirit doesn't mainly speak through the words we say. The most important thing it speaks is through the heart. The spirit changes us and it's a lot deeper than any words that we can possibly say. I have seen it's effect and I have felt it's effect. It testifies of Christ and how grateful I am that we have the promise that the Spirit will always be with us when we partake of the sacrament!!

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever

Week 3 in Stafford

Hello friends and family!

I dont have much time but we had a very eventful week this week! Sister Ryser and I have been running from appointment to appointment. We had a lesson with Gail this week! She is yhe sweetest lady and we learned so much about her this week! She actually had met with missionaries before! We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and you could just feel that she really was listening. She was listening before but it felt like this time she was truly seeking to understand and wanting to know what we were saying. 

We also had a lesson with a woman named Pauline! She expressed her desire to really know if the Book of Mormon is true. She said she has changed so much since meeting the missionaries for the first time and has grown closer to God when she has met with us! 

We also had the chance to go to Crewe this week for zone conference and I had the biggest scare of my entire life!!! (We'll mission life). Before the conference started, missionaries were coming up to me and saying,"Sister Sever how long do you have left? Do you go home this transfer?" And i would just say, "No, i have a little more left to go." So every transfer at zone conference, they call up the people who are leaving that transfer and now I have quite a while left(ok it's like 2 months left) but they started listing off the names and mine happened to be one of them. My heart stopped and a flash of doubt started to creep in. I started thinking... wait.... am I going home ALREADY!! 🤯😳 Probably from the look on my face, President McReynolds got up before I was supposed to speak and just said that apparently I wasn't ready to go home yet😂

So I am now reading the end of Ether and I found something that I thought was quite interesting. So in chapter 13, Ether is told by the spirit that he needs to go to Coriantumr and preach to him. So, that is exactly what he does!! He goes to the people and is rejected. They were not interested in repenting. Now, I stopped to think about this and I thought that God was a merciful being. He was giving then a second chance. Which he was!! But then, a couple chapters later in 15 it became apparent to me that God has a greater purpose planned for us. Coriantumr sees the destruction of his people, 2 million have died and he REMEMBERS what Ether told him years ago. He remember that he told them to repent and that's he exactly what he did. If Ether had not preached to him because he thought they were beyond saving then Coriantumr wouldn't have remembered what Ether told him. It really motivated me to really follow the spirit in everything even of it seems pointless. Because with God, nothing is pointless, with every prompting he has specific reasons even if it doesn't make sense in that moment or years down the line. I know He loves us and does nothing without reason. 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever

1. There was a LOT of rain one day this week. Other than that, the weather has been lovely

Week 2 in Stafford

Well hello friends and family!!! 

This has been quite an exciting week!! First of all... I'm definitley not in Wigan anymore! It's still so weird to me that I have gone! I miss the people there. I made so many memories and I grew so much! I will never forget Debora or Vejas but I am so excited to start this new adventure in Stafford!

We had some pretty amazing lessons! My first day here we had a lesson with the sweetest woman named Gail. He was so cute and she could scarily remember parts of the introduction that I didn't even know. She knew the exact date of when Joseph Smith saw the angel Moroni! 

There was one day where we had lots of lessons to go to and every one of them fell through... it sounds sad but Sister Ryser and I didn't feel sad at all! I mean of course we would have been happier having the lessons but we just took it as it came. We got some crepes in a Little Dessert shop in Wigan and it was absolutely delicious. 

This Sunday, Vejas was able to share his testimony at a fireside. I wasn't able to attend but the entire day I was just thinking about how grateful I am that the Lord has placed me where I have been to meet the people that I have. It's amazing people like Vejas that truly show me that the Lord is preparing people and motivates me to tell everyone that there is somebody that loves them. :)

We also had stake conference this week and it was different... because it was in a hotel!!! I've never had stake conference in a hotel before! A seventy spoke at it, his name was Elder Gilmore. He said this absolutely incredible story! He talked about a 5 year old boy who growing up he always loved going to church because he LOVED hearing the organist play. It was this young man and he just could play the organ like nobody he had heard before. The young man had a wife and a young child at the time. One day the young boy was playing at a friend's home and his mother called him back. He said that that was the last time he saw his mother walk without aid. Recently, a young child at their small branch had died from polio and his parents were afraid that his mother was showing similar symptoms. They immediately rushed her to the hospital. She was in critical condition and at one point they considered putting her in the iron lung to help her breath. Since polio was so contagious, people were scared to visit her. But the young organist would visit her everyday for the 4 months she was in the hospital. The organist was Russell M. Nelson. Im only reciting this story off of memory so it isn't perfect. But, it truly showed me that wow... He really is a prophet! He was foreordained to lead this current dispensation. He truly shows us what a disciple of Christ should look like and I love and sustain him. Whenever I share my testimony to those I teach, I just feel the spirit testifying to me that this man really is a prophet of God! 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever

1.  Krispy kreams... literally just cause😂

2.  Sister Ryser and I 

3.  Near to where our flat is, canal next to it basically

4 & 5.  Little dessert place 

Week 1 in Stafford

Well friends and family....

Transfers are here!! You probably weren't expecting this at all... But I am now leaving Wigan! I actually was quite convinced I was staying because I love Wigan. But, usually when I guess something the opposite happens. Either that or I joke around that it will happen and it actually happens. It's one or the other. But, I am leaving Wigan and heading to..... STAFFORD!!! I am going to the South! I have never been in the South of my mission boundaries. But, now I am heading near to Newcastle. I don't know much about Stafford but I do know it is beautiful and my companion is Sister Ryser.

I have been in Wigan for around 8-9 months now. I have lost count. I have had so many absolutely amazing memories here. It truly is the blessed land. I had some more amazing memories this week as well. So, a couple weeks ago, we were just walking along the street when Sister Hawkins felt prompted to go back to talk to a man on a bench that she saw. His name is Craig. We talked a little bit and he accepted a Book of Mormon straight off the bat and said he would like to meet. We arranged for a time in the library and last week we went to meet him. We had another lesson before his with a man named Gareth. We were waiting for him when Gareth texted us saying he couldn't make it to the lesson. A bit disappointing we were going to daily contact when BAM we saw Craig! He walked up to us and said he completely forgot about his lesson but he just ended up coming to the library anyways. We had a lesson with him this week and the same exact thing happened. Heavenly intervention! 

We also had something called First Five Weeks. Sister Hawkins is only in her first transfer and so we had to go to the mission home in Altrincham for a training for all the new missionaries. So, first mistake... I was navigating that day. I ended up putting in the wrong postcode and we ended up in the town over. I was navigating to the mission office not the mission home. Luckily, there were senior couple missionaries who lived close by that were so kind to give us a ride to the mission home. Before they came, I was confidently walking through this forest path that didn't seem to be an actual path and I got mud all over my tights. Then, the assistants to the president called and we figured out I was a 20 minute drive to the mission home from where I was...

Not too long ago, I was reading in Nephi 18. Jesus Christ is ministering to the Nephites and asks them to pray. In verse 16 he talks about that as he has prayed among us even must we pray. It made me realize how important prayer truly is. I thought of 2 Nephi 31 when it says that if Jesus Christ has a need to be baptise and he was perfect, how much more need do we have to be baptised as we make mistakes. I think I is the same in this verse, Jesus Christ was a perfect resurrected being when he was talking to the Nephites and he was praying with them and for them. If he prays, we should as well. As a missionary we do pray... a lot. But, I have seen how my life has changed because of it. Prayer gives us added strength and comfort and it holds power. We are talking to the Being who loves us more than we can imagine! That is why we invite so many people to pray because that is the only way they can get the answers they need and recognize the Lord's hand in our lives. He wants to speak to us but we are the only ones who can open that communication.

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Sister Sever